Controlling the "Chinese" of the eastern states? Maine's constitutional amendment of 1893, electoral reform, and anti-French-Canadian bias

Abstract

This thesis examines a constitutional amendment adopted by the State of Maine in 1893 as part of an electoral reform package. It stated that any man who could not read the State Constitution in English or write his name on or after January 3, 1893 was not qualified to vote. Although some of the amendment's supporters claimed the measure would raise the quality of the state electorate, most supported it because it targeted immigrants, more particularly, French Canadian immigrants. Anglo-Republicans who supported the amendment discriminated against French-Canadians, who were Catholic, spoke French, and chose acculturation rather than assimilation. The amendment was meant to disenfranchise a large proportion of these voters, as many of them were illiterate, French speaking migrants. However, the impact of the amendment proved to be limited. It did not affect Franco-American allegiances to politicians or political parties they thought best supported their wants and needs. This may be why the amendment was quickly forgotten and is not mentioned in any published history of Maine. Statistics collected from the 1910 census, English and French language newspapers of Lewiston, and an out of state newspaper provide much of the primary sources for this work.